Of Elephants, Armenia, and the ARF

After I mentioned the topic of this piece in a Facebook posting, a friend was insistent that I do a full piece on it, so here goes.

“Don’t think of an elephant.”

What just happened in your head? In order to NOT think of an elephant, you, in fact, had to think of an elephant so you could “not” think about it. The image of an elephant probably flashed across your mind’s eye.

That phrase, “Don’t think of an elephant” is the title of a very short book by George Lakoff, first published in 2004, that serves as a guide for activists to advance their agenda by understanding how people receive and perceive information. He has also published a much longer, scholarly, “version” of the same analyses titled “Moral Politics”.

The underlying concept is that people have a moral basis for being politically “conservative” or “liberal” that defines how they process information coming at them from their surroundings. Lakoff says conservatives have a strict father model in which people are made good through self-discipline and hard work, everyone is taken care of by taking care of themselves. Liberals have a nurturant parent model in which everyone is taken care of by helping each other. Most people have varying degrees of these two in themselves, which helps explain the spectrum we see in politics. These are what Lakoff calls “frames” through which people “see” the world around them. But these are not the only frames that exist.

What’s very interesting is that these frames are so solid that even when the facts contradict what people expect because of their frame, thye do not change their minds. Facts just bounce off the frame!

Perhaps the best way to explain this in an Armenian context is through the example of Turks’ attempts at Genocide denial. Think about it – when a Turkish lobbyist approaches an elected official and says “There was no Genocide,” what has s/he done? S/he had to use the word genocide. Once that happens, the elected is thinking about genocide, just like you couldn’t help but think about an elephant when you read the second sentence of this piece.

That’s how people’s minds work. This applies where the matter in question is a societal issue, an organization, or even an individual, framing defines perception and understanding.

I would add, from personal experience, that it also matters who gets the first word in. So if two people have opposing opinions on a topic, the one who speaks second to a third person usually has a slight disadvantage in getting the third person to come to her/his side.

And that’s what explains, partially, the bind, the hole, the ARF finds itself in at this time. At least in the Republic of Armenia, a fairly broadly accepted frame is that the Armenian Revolutionary Federation is no different than the agglomeration of oligarchs it worked with when in coalition with the Republican Party of Armenia (RPA).

With this as the frame in an otherwise uninformed person’s mind, it is extremely difficult convey a different notion. If the ARF says “we’re not oligarchs,” what happens? People hear “oligarch” which is a well-established frame, and the hole has been dug deeper for the organization. If people hear the ARF very rationally, logically, explain why it was in coalition with the RPA, the hole gets deeper still, because Serge Sarkissian, the former president, now extremely unpopular, comes to mind. All the ills associated with him somehow also accrue to the ARF.

So what’s the solution for the ARF? It has to undertake the difficult task of recreating the enormously positive frame it enjoyed among a significant portion of the population when Armenia regained its independence. I do not want to underestimate the number of people who had been duped into an anti-ARF mentality through decades, generations, of Soviet propaganda which contributes to the negative-ARF frame.

How is this to be done? It is definitely not through public statements which will inescapably fall victim to this negative frame that exists (and the work of those who for various reasons are negatively disposed towards the ARF). Only hard, productive, social-political-economic work will reestablish, in time, a positive frame for the ARF. Just as it seems Nigol Pashinian can do no wrong at this time because of the positive frame through which he is perceived, thanks to his diligent activism and public relations savvy, the ARF, too, can improve its standing among the citizenry.

Quiet, low key, productive, helpful, open, heartfelt, constructive work – that’s the path to progress for the ARF as a party and though it the country and nation as a whole.

Oh, and every Armenian should buy “Don’t Think of an Elephant” and read it.

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5 Comments

Ahh, sireli Garen, the Elephant in the room however remains in the fact that for 20 years ARF joined, AND enjoyed, the support of a regime (Kocharian/Sarkissian same crap) composed mainly of thieves, murderers, and outright thugs who demonstrated contempt towards the people of Armenia and took sick joy of crushing them. And where was ARF? standing right next to them.

When ARF failed to be with the people when they needed them, people will ignore ARF. No one will be fooled by nationalistic declarations or with the promise of future social justice. They have played all their cards, and now they are left with none! empty hands!!

The wonderful work that ARF has done, and still continues to do in diaspora, is usurped by ARF’s Armenia leadership. SHAME on them.

Anything touched or associated by parties within Armenia are tarnished and corrupted. The ARF is, and has always been, a very powerful and patriotic force in the diaspora for the past 100+ years. The ARF in Armenia is simply an extension of all the other corrupt organizations. There is no difference between the so-called political parties, they’re all leftovers from the Soviet era. Within 25 years, the ARF in Armenia managed to blemish the ARF good name. And now, the Armenian masses will find the broadest brush to paint all of ARF as one!

Garen:
Thank you for your relevant thoughts.
Your conclusion:
“Quiet, low key, productive, helpful, open, heartfelt, constructive work – that’s the path to progress for the ARF as a party and though it the country and nation as a whole”.
Your phrases and composite statement are a threat to change . Change is not part of ARF’s DNA , a threat to ARF leadership and a day to day party thinking that is based on yesteryear.
Because the ARF of 2018 is still immersed in 1918 ( “…when Armenia regained independence…”) thinking worldwide, there is no hint that the party has the capability or interest to adapt.
Youth of Armenia wish to look forward rather than see reflections from history books.

No one survives 100 years in the diaspora without gathering some moss. The ARF was successful where others failled. It’s participation in the previous regime was in the necessity of engagement. Should they have stayed out of politics, then they would have been accused of indiference. This is after all a political party, mostly manned by local people, not a church quire of angels. If you want a better ARF, you should join the ARF.

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As a reader who had the chance to read the manuscript before publication, I thank Paul Chaderjian for letting me into the world of “Adam Terzian,” a world in which the past, the present, and the future co-exist in conflict

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As a reader who had the chance to read the manuscript before publication, I thank Paul Chaderjian for letting me into the world of “Adam Terzian,” a world in which the past, the present, and the future co-exist in conflict